


Under the Weather

by JustAnotherWriter (N1ghtshade)



Series: Advent Calendar Gift Fics [5]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, Sickfic, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 06:46:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16868089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/N1ghtshade/pseuds/JustAnotherWriter
Summary: Jack knew something was wrong with the kid the second he walked into the War Room. Mac’s been a little off ever since they got back from that gosh-awful weekend in Germany. Now, though, the kid isn’t just moving a little more slowly, or sniffling occasionally into a kleenex. He’s downright dragging.Mac's penchant for ignoring anything wrong and refusing to deal with it is about to catch up to him...





	Under the Weather

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Boozey_The_Ghost](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boozey_The_Ghost/gifts).



Jack knew something was wrong with the kid the second he walked into the War Room. Mac’s been a little off ever since they got back from that gosh-awful weekend in Germany. Jack thought it would never stop raining, and he’s not going to let R&D live down the supposedly “waterproof” gear he and Mac were given any time soon.. Now, though, the kid isn’t just moving a little more slowly, or sniffling occasionally into a kleenex. He’s downright dragging.

Mac collapses into a chair, shaking his head slowly. Riley shoots him  concerned glance, but then Matty powers up the screen and starts the next mission briefing. Jack doesn’t miss the way she too keeps her eyes on Mac almost the whole time. She doesn’t even scold Jack for putting his feet on the coffee table. Usually she’ll interrupt her briefing to threaten him with an undercover op in Sibera. Today, she either doesn’t notice his infraction or doesn’t care to acknowledge it. In either case it’s not normal for her.

“As you can see, time is of the essence. We need to retrieve that agent, and his intel, in the next twenty-four hours.” Matty switches off the screen and nods to the team. 

The kid stands up quickly, then stumbles, collapsing back into the chair with a gasp and shudder.

“Mac?” Jack’s at the kid’s side in a second.

“‘M ‘kay,” Mac mumbles. “Jus’ got up too fas’.” 

“Now, hold on there, hoss,” Jack says. “You’re not lookin’ so good.”

Mac stands up again, moves away from Jack...and promptly trips over his own feet, landing smack on his butt in the middle of the floor. Jack sees both Riley and Bozer stifle automatic giggles before rushing over, along with Jack and Matty, to help. 

“I jus’ tripped, tha’s all,” Mac sputters, face crimson, as he struggles to get up, a hand flailing for anything to support him. He misses the table by a mile.  _ He thinks he can use his clumsiness as an excuse.  _ Mac  _ does _ have an almost inhuman ability to trip over his own feet, any object lower than his knees, or even empty air, but that’s not what this was.

“No, I’ve seen you ‘just trip’ and you always end up rollin’ around on the ground like a turtle on its back with those mile-long legs in the air,” Jack says, putting a hand on Mac’s shoulder to keep him on the floor. “This time, you just went straight down an’ stayed there. Didn’t even try to catch yourself. You’re goin’ straight to medical and that’s final.” 

“Don’ wanna,” Mac mutters, rolling over on his stomach to push himself upright. He doesn’t get further than a seated position before he’s holding his stomach, a hand over his mouth. Bozer steps back and Matty hands Jack a trash can.

“Oh kid,” Jack mutters when Mac finally leans back against a chair, accepting a kleenex from Riley to wipe his mouth, and rubbing the back of his hand over watery eyes.

“I just got dizzy all of a sudden,” Mac mumbles. “Room was spinning.”

“Ok, that really ain’t good.” Jack mutters. 

“I guess it’s medical then,” Mac mutters resignedly. He starts to stand up again but Jack shakes his head. 

“Oh no you don’t, you’re never gonna make it down to medical like that.” He bodily scoops the kid up; this is nowhere near the first or the scariest time he’s had to do this.

“Jaaaack,” Mac protests weakly, but he’s starting to shiver, and as Jack moves toward the door Mac curls into his warmth and seems to relax a little. 

“It’s this or a stretcher, which would you prefer?” Jack already knows what the kid’s answer would be. So does everyone else in the room. Mac just hums softly, puts one arm around Jack’s neck, and buries his face in his shoulder.

“Now don’t go getting sick on me again, okay?” Jack says, only half joking. Mac nods softly. 

He doesn’t want to let go of Jack when they finally do get into the infirmary. Jack has to detach the kid’s fingers from his arm like the kid’s a freaking starfish or something. He doesn’t leave Mac’s side as the doctor, a kindly older woman who’s had plenty of experience wrangling an unwilling and injured Mac, checks him over.

“Well, young man, it’s no surprise you’re in the shape you’re in,” Dr. Grey says when she’s finished. “You’ve got a double ear infection that you’ve probably had for at least three days, judging by the fever you’re running.” She shakes her head, clucking her tongue the way Jack’s grandma used to when she caught him sneaking cookies she’d made for the church potluck. 

Dr. Grey returns with a supply of antibiotics and strict instructions for bed rest at the same time Jack’s phone buzzes with a text from Matty. 

**Turned the op over to Brennan’s team. Take Blondie home and make sure he stays there.**

Jack sends off a  **Yes Ma’am** just because he knows it will annoy Matty to no end, and then reaches for Mac. “Come on, kid, you’re goin’ straight home to bed.”

Mac doesn’t even protest, he knows it’s useless at this point and if he does, Jack’s pretty sure Dr. Grey can forcibly sedate him so Jack won’t have to deal with him trying to get away. He picks the kid up again, and carries him out to the car, depositing him gently on the passenger seat and buckling him in.

When they get to the house, Mac’s asleep, although he seems to half wake up when Jack carries him inside. Jack shakes him all the way awake once he has the kid comfortably settled in bed with a couple blankets over him and his back propped up with a pillow. “Okay, you just gotta take these pills and then you can sleep, ‘kay?” Mac nods, and swallows down the antibiotics with a glass of water. Once Jack’s fairly sure the kid won’t just throw it all up again, he lays Mac down more comfortably and pulls the blankets up to the kid’s chin. “Okay, now you can sleep.” Mac’s already drifting off. Jack ruffles his messy, sweaty hair with a smile and grabs a chair from the corner of the room, and one of the Louis L'Amour novels he loaned the kid an eon ago off Mac’s bookshelf. He’s not going anywhere. 


End file.
